Saturated alkyl esters play an important role in determining the functional properties of the vegetable waxes used in the formulations of natural cosmetics and edible oleogels. We studied the relationship between the thermo-mechanical properties and crystal microstructure developed by saturated symmetrical (

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We studied the phase behavior of 1-myristoyl glycerol (C14), 1-palmitoyl glycerol (C16), 1-stearoyl glycerol (C18), 1-monoarachidate glycerol (C20), and 1-monobehenin glycerol (C22) in vegetable (VO) and mineral (MO) oil using X-ray and DSC analysis. The results obtained showed that the Lα, sub-α1, and sub-α2 transitions observed in the neat C16 to C22 were also present in the corresponding VO and MO solutions (1% to 8% MG). The C14 developed just the Lα and the sub α1 phases, that further transformed into the β phase. The differences between the MGs phase diagrams obtained in the VO and the MO, were mainly associated with the MGs’ polar “head” solubility in the oil as a function of the MGs concentration, as affected by the oil’s relative polarity. Thus, in the VO the phase diagrams of C16 to C22 showed zones where the Lα and sub-α1 phases crystallized concomitantly, affecting the sub-α2 transition temperature. In contrast, in the MO the Lα, the sub-α1, and the sub-α2 phases of C16 to C22 occurred in well-differentiated temperature zones independent of the MG concentration. This is the first report showing that the C16 also develops the sub-α2 phase in the neat state and in VO and MO solutions. Based on the X-ray analysis and through molecular modeling we established that the neat C16 to C22 crystallized in a monoclinic form with a 2L organization. The inclination of the alkyl chain associated with the monoclinic organization, seemed to be a structural requirement for the crystallization of the sub-α2 phase.